UN votes to end its peacekeeping mission in Mali

UN peacekeepers carry the coffins of the three UN soldiers from Bangladesh during a ceremony n Bamako, Mali. (Reuters)
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Updated 01 July 2023
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UN votes to end its peacekeeping mission in Mali

  • The mercenaries have also been engaged in Moscow’s war in Ukraine and were part of a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military last week led by the Wagner group’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin

NEW YORK: The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to immediately end its peacekeeping mission in Mali as demanded by the country’s military junta, which has brought in mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group to help fight insurgency.
Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa, has grappled with the insurgency for over a decade.
It has seen its relations with the international community become strained in part because the ruling junta brought in the Wagner mercenaries.
The mercenaries have also been engaged in Moscow’s war in Ukraine and were part of a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military last week led by the Wagner group’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The French-drafted resolution, adopted by a 15-0 vote, terminates the mandate of the peacekeeping mission known as MINUSMA as of Friday. It orders the mission to start the withdrawal on Saturday of more than 15,000 personnel, to be completed by the end of the year.
US Deputy Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis expressed regret at the military government’s decision to abandon the UN mission.
He also said that “some domestic actors” in Mali are calling for harassment of peacekeepers and urged the mission to ensure the safe and orderly transfer of UN facilities and equipment to UN-designated places.
“The UN has a responsibility to minimize the risk that its assets fall into the hands of those looking to destabilize Mali, or bring harm to its people, including violent extremist organizations and the Wagner Group,” he said.
British Ambassador Barbara Woodward expressed regret that Mali wanted the peacekeepers to leave at a time when the region is “facing increasing instability and humanitarian needs.”
“And we do not believe the partnership with the Wagner Group will deliver long-term stability or security for the Malian people,” she said.
Meanwhile, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby expressed deep concern at Wagner’s destabilizing activities in Africa, especially Mali and Central African Republic.
He told reporters in Washington that US information indicates “the Malian transition government has paid over $200 million to Wagner since late 2021.” Despite the payments, he said, security hasn’t improved and terror attacks and violent crime have increased in central Mali.
Kirby also claimed that “Prighozin helped engineer” the speedy departure of U.N. peacekeepers “to further Wagner’s interests.”
“We know that senior Malian officials worked directly with Prighozin employees to inform the U.N. secretary-general that Mali had revoked consent for the MINUSMA mission,” he said.
Mali has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were forced from power in the West African nation’s northern cities the following year, with the help of a French-led military operation.
But they regrouped in the desert and began launching attacks on the Malian army and its allies.
The UN peacekeepers came in a few months later in what has become one of the most dangerous UN missions in the world.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres paid tribute to the 309 MINUSMA personnel who lost their lives “in the service of peace during 10 years the mission was deployed in Mali,” his spokesman said.
Mali has been ruled by a military junta following two coups, starting in 2020, led by Col. Assimi Goita, who now runs the country.
The resolution welcomes Goita’s commitment to organizing free and fair presidential elections in February 2024 and ensuring the return to constitutional order the following months — commitments that DeLaurentis and other council members said the transitional government must keep.
The council’s decision to end the UN mission followed a demand by Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop to the Security Council on June 16 that the peacekeepers leave the country, claiming they failed in their mission to restore security. There is “a crisis of confidence between Malian authorities and MINUSMA,” he said.
Following Friday’s vote, Diop told national broadcaster ORTM that “”many Malians” had requested the withdrawal and called the peacekeeping mission “a threat to our country.”
He said it wasn’t a hasty decision but the result of the government’s desire to take charge of its own affairs and the strengthening of its military and security forces.
The United Nations needs support of governments for its peacekeeping missions to operate.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Anna Evstigneeva told the council Moscow supports the transitional government’s “aspiration to take full responsibility and play the leading role in stabilizing the Malian state.”
She said Russia will continue providing comprehensive bilateral support to Mali to normalize the situation in the country.
Mali’s UN ambassador, Issa Konfourou, told the council after the vote that while MINUSMA did not achieve its fundamental goal of supporting the government’s efforts to secure the country, the people and the government in Mali would “like to applaud its contribution in other areas,” especially humanitarian and social assistance.
Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South, said that while MINUSMA was not authorized to fight militants, it did provide protection to civilians from the violent extremists.
Attacks are most likely to increase now in the areas where UN peacekeepers provided regular patrols since the Malian army remains underequipped to provide adequate protection,” Lyammouri said.
The UN mission also played a critical role in mediating between the Malian government and separatist Tuareg rebels. Ely Dicko, a sociologist at the University of Bamako, said that one of the consequences of the vacuum the peacekeepers will leave may be the resumption of hostilities between the government and the Tuareg rebels.
Daniel Forti, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the withdrawal “is going to be a massive undertaking for the whole UN and for Mali” and both have a lot to lose if it isn’t done “in a consensual and united way.”
 

 


UK’s Met Police refers itself to watchdog over Al-Fayed probes

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UK’s Met Police refers itself to watchdog over Al-Fayed probes

LONDON: The UK’s Metropolitan Police on Friday referred itself to the police watchdog following complaints from two women over its handling of investigations into alleged sexual abuse by late Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed.
The complaints, referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), involve investigations from 2008 and 2013.
They revolve around the quality of the police response and, in the case of the 2013 probe, how details came to be disclosed publicly.
“In recent weeks, two victims-survivors have come forward with concerns about how their allegations were handled when first reported, and it is only appropriate that the IOPC assess these complaints,” said Stephen Clayman, from the Met’s Specialist Crime team.
“Although we cannot change the past, we are resolute in our goal to offer every individual who contacts us the highest standard of service and support,” he added.
More than 400 women and witnesses have come forward in the past six weeks alleging sexual misconduct by Fayed, who died in August last year aged 94.
The allegations follow the airing of a BBC documentary in September that detailed multiple claims of rape and sexual assault by the former owner of the upmarket London department store.
The Justice for Harrods Survivors group said it had received 421 inquiries, mainly related to the store but also regarding Fulham football club, the Ritz Hotel in Paris and other Fayed entities.
The Met said Friday that it was “actively reviewing 21 allegations reported to the Metropolitan Police prior to Mohamed Al-Fayed’s passing... to determine if any additional investigative steps are available or there are things we could have done better.”

India’s Naga separatists threaten to resume violence after decades-long truce

Updated 46 min 2 sec ago
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India’s Naga separatists threaten to resume violence after decades-long truce

  • “The violent confrontation between India and Nagalim shall be purely on account of the deliberate betrayal and breach of commitment by India and its leadership to honor the letter and spirit of Framework Agreement of 2015,” he said

GUWAHATI, India: An armed separatist group in a remote northeast Indian state on Friday threatened to “resume violent armed resistance” after nearly three decades of ceasefire, accusing New Delhi of failing to honor promises in earlier agreements.
The Naga insurgency, India’s oldest, is aimed at creating a separate homeland of Nagalim that unites parts of India’s mountainous northeast with areas of neighboring Myanmar for ethnic Naga people. About 20,000 people have died in the conflict since it began in 1947.
A ceasefire between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), a leading separatist group, and Indian security forces has held since it was enforced in 1997 and the group signed an agreement with New Delhi in 2015 toward striking a resolution on their demands.

BACKGROUND

A ceasefire between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), a leading separatist group, and Indian security forces has held since it was enforced in 1997.

But talks have stagnated since and in a statement Friday, the group’s chief, Thuingaleng Muivah, accused India of “betrayal of the letter and spirit” of the 2015 agreement.
India’s Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Muivah’s remarks.
In a statement, Muivah urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal government to “respect and honor” the 2015 agreement, which he said “officially recognized and acknowledged” the right to a sovereign flag and constitution for the separatists.
Muivah proposed a “third party intervention” to resolve the impasse, threatening that it would resume violence if “such a political initiative was rejected.”
“The violent confrontation between India and Nagalim shall be purely on account of the deliberate betrayal and breach of commitment by India and its leadership to honor the letter and spirit of Framework Agreement of 2015,” he said.
“India and its leadership shall be held responsible for the catastrophic and adverse situation that will arise out of the violent armed conflict between India and Nagalim,” he said.

 


Comoros arrests suspected key smuggler

Comoros Police officers and Comoros soldiers patrol in Moroni on January 17, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 08 November 2024
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Comoros arrests suspected key smuggler

  • The International Organization for Migration said on Monday that at least 25 people died after the boat was “deliberately capsized by traffickers”

MORONI, Comoros: Police in the Comoros said on Friday they had arrested the alleged leader of a smuggling network involved in the capsizing of a migrant boat that claimed around two dozen lives.
The boat sank on a well-known smuggling route between the Comoros island of Anjouan and the French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte on Nov. 1.
“The smuggling ringleader who owned the capsized boat was arrested on Thursday in Anjouan,” Col. Tachfine Ahmed said.
“He admitted that he owned the boat and bought all the material needed for the trip,” he added, saying the 37-year-old suspect was a resident of Mayotte.
The International Organization for Migration said on Monday that at least 25 people died after the boat was “deliberately capsized by traffickers.”
The Comoros police said they knew of 17 deaths.
Fishermen rescued five survivors who said the boat was carrying around 30 people, including women and young children, the IOM said.
A survivor said the smugglers sank the vessel before fleeing on a speedboat.
Police confirmed the survivor’s account, saying the two smugglers escaped.
“We are actively looking for the two smugglers who got on another boat,” the colonel added.
In addition to homicide charges, the arrested suspect faces up to 10 years imprisonment for belonging to an organized criminal group as well as three years for illegal transport of passengers.
Anjouan is one of three islands in the nation of Comoros, located around 70 km northwest of Mayotte, which became a department of France in 2011.
Despite being France’s poorest department, Mayotte has French infrastructure and welfare, which makes it attractive to migrants from Comoros seeking a better life.
Many pay smugglers to make the dangerous sea crossing in rickety fishing boats known as “kwassa-kwassa.”

 


UK court awards Manchester bomb victims £45,000 over hoax claims

Updated 08 November 2024
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UK court awards Manchester bomb victims £45,000 over hoax claims

  • Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve sued Richard Hall over claims made in videos and a book that they were “crisis actors“
  • Judge Karen Steyn called Hall’s behavior “a negligent, indeed reckless, abuse of media freedom”

LONDON: Two survivors of the 2017 bomb attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, on Friday won £45,000 ($58,000) in damages from a former TV producer who claimed the attack was a hoax.
Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve sued Richard Hall over claims made in videos and a book that they were “crisis actors” employed by the state as part of an elaborate deception.
Hibbert sustained a spinal cord injury in the attack, and his daughter suffered severe brain damage.
Hall argued that he was acting in the public interest by filming Hibbert’s daughter outside her home, but the High Court in London agreed with Hibbert’s claim for harassment.
Judge Karen Steyn called Hall’s behavior “a negligent, indeed reckless, abuse of media freedom” and on Friday ordered him to pay Hibbert and his daughter each £22,500 in damages.
Hall must also pay 90 percent of their legal costs, currently estimated at £260,000.
“The claimants are both vulnerable. The allegations are serious and distressing,” said the judge.
Jonathan Price, lawyer for the claimants, said that Hall “insisted that the terrorist attack in which the claimants were catastrophically injured did not happen and that the claimants were participants or ‘crisis actors’ in a state-orchestrated hoax, who had repeatedly, publicly and egregiously lied to the public for monetary gain.”
Hibbert welcomed the ruling, adding: “I want this case to open up the door for change, and for it to protect others from what we have been put through.
“It proves and has highlighted... that there is protection within the law, and it sends out a message to conspiracy theorists that you cannot ignore all acceptable evidence and harass innocent people.”
Islamic extremist Salman Abedi, aided by his brother, Hashem Abedi, killed 22 people and injured 1,017 during the suicide bombing at the end of the concert by the US singer.


US charges Iranian man in plot to kill Donald Trump

Updated 08 November 2024
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US charges Iranian man in plot to kill Donald Trump

  • Shakeri told the FBI he didn’t plan to propose a plan to murder Trump
  • The plot reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target US government officials

WASHINGTON: The Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump, charging a man who said he had been tasked by a government official before this week’s election with assassinating the Republican president-elect.
Investigators learned of the plot to kill Trump while interviewing Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan national identified by officials as an Iranian government asset who was deported from the US after being imprisoned on robbery charges.
He told investigators that a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him this past September to put together a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.

Two other men who the authorities say were recruited to participate in other assassinations, including a prominent Iranian American journalist, were also arrested Friday. Shakeri remains in Iran.
“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.
The plot, with the charges unsealed just days after Trump’s defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris, reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target US government officials, including Trump, on US soil. Last summer, the Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in a murder-for-hire plot.